The Bluff Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant handles sewage from Bethany and Warr Acres, but the facility is located in northwestern Oklahoma County, just west of Edmond city limits. It typically treats three million gallons of raw sewage a day.

After receiving a complaint from a community member in November 2022, the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality issued an emergency order to stop the plant from spilling waste into its namesake creek. For a while, the wastewater normally handled by the Bluff Creek plant was diverted to a nearby plant run by Oklahoma City for treatment.

Even before that incident, the Bluff Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant had a history of serious non-compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules for treating and monitoring sewage, including failure to complete required construction.

Now, Oklahoma County DA Vicki Behenna alleges two men are responsible: former Bluff Creek plant operator Glen Brentnell and another plant employee, Anthony Menzie. Menzie has admitted to falsifying reports to make it seem like the plant was spilling less fecal material than in reality, according to the DA’s office.

Both men face one charge of obtaining property under false pretenses and two charges of violating the Oklahoma Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act. Menzie faces additional charges for falsifying records and conspiring to commit a felony.

Erin Hatfield with the Department of Environmental Quality said the two are no longer employed by the Bethany/Warr Acres Public Works Authority, and the situation at the wastewater treatment plant has improved. The plant is making payments toward a fine for the 2022 violations and working to bring the plant up to state and federal environmental standards.

Menzie was arrested Friday, according to the DA’s office. As of Friday afternoon, Brentnell was not in custody despite a warrant for his arrest.